A 10-year-old girl visiting New Zealand’s Auckland Zoo had her brand new iPod touch (a combined birthday and Christmas present) pilfered by a sneaky spider monkey.

According to Stormi-Lee Whitford’s grandmother, the girl was busy taking pictures of the monkeys in their enclosure when the device was stolen. While onlookers watched the scene unfold, the two monkeys began playing with the iPod.

“I tell you what, it kept the zoo entertained for ages,” Mrs Whitford told the New Zealand Herald. “But Stormi-Lee was so upset, and we couldn’t do anything – it was her prized possession for a very, very short time.”

Zoo staff haven’t yet managed to find the iPod, and it is feared that the monkeys might have grown bored of it and thrown it into the moat around the enclosure.

Perhaps they’re Android fans, or thought it was the iPhone 5s instead?

About the author:

Luke Dormehl is a UK-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems, And Create More and The Apple Revolution, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme, and other publications. He'd like you a lot if you followed him on Twitter.